


the redwoods, once seen

by ariya167



Category: Zeroes Series - Scott Westerfeld
Genre: Camping, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mid-Canon, Romance, i guess, might be out of character but who knows at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 18:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17924327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariya167/pseuds/ariya167
Summary: Ethan was glaring at his phone when Nate returned with firewood, muttering something about stupid phones and bad signals. Nate cast a sympathetic look in his direction, before tossing the wood down around the fire pit.





	the redwoods, once seen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [churchenbells](https://archiveofourown.org/users/churchenbells/gifts).



> Sorry this took so long for me to write, but here you go!

Ethan was glaring at his phone when Nate returned with firewood, muttering something about stupid phones and bad signals. Nate cast a sympathetic look in his direction, before tossing the wood down around the fire pit. 

“Oh, you’re back,” he said, looking up from the screen and tossing his phone in his bag. 

“With firewood,” Nate agreed, shifting the logs into a more stable pile. He reached for something in his pocket, paused, and frowned. Mierda. “Do you have a lighter?”

Ethan pursed his lips, digging around in his pack. He emerged a few moments later, lighter in hand, and tossed it to Nate.

“Thanks,” he said, flicking it on and coaxing a flame onto the firewood. When it was crackling merrily away, he sat back, satisfied, and tossed the lighter back to Ethan. It was only late afternoon, but there wasn’t long until dark, and the day was cold for September. 

“Have you ever been camping before?” Nate asked. Ethan blinked, attention curling into himself, and Nate worried he’d accidentally touched on a sore subject. But when he spoke, his tone was wistful.

“Yeah, once. When I was really little.” Ethan smiled at the memory. “Jess and I got into so much trouble. My mom was furious.”

Nate laughed. “I can imagine.” 

Ethan grinned at him. “What about you? Ever gone camping before?”

He shook his head. “Not with my family. We’re more of hotel-people, but my sisters love it when we go on vacation.”

Ethan snorted. “I bet. The Saldanas are too good for the great outdoors, right?”

Nate raised his hands in mock defense. “Come on, my family does plenty of regular-people things.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like,” Nate said, and paused. Mierda. “I’ve . . . taken the bus before.”

“Oh man,” he laughed. “I would’ve paid to see that.” 

Nate searched for a potential comeback, came up with nothing, and settled for glaring very pointedly at Ethan. “At least I can drive,” he said.

Ethan scoffed. “Hey, I can drive. And that doesn’t mean you’re a good driver.” 

“Rude.”

“Factual.” 

“Still rude.”

“Still factual,” Ethan shot back and despite himself, Nate laughed. Mierda. 

“Okay, okay, fine,” he relented. “So camping, huh? Any tips?”

Ethan blinked. “I mean . . . we could go fishing or something, but this is pretty nice on its own.” 

Nate smiled. “I’m glad.”

The moment might’ve been very romantic, leaning over and kissing Ethan, but the truth was that he was sitting on the opposite side of the fire and Nate had to scoot over in a very ungainly way. But after that it didn’t matter-the crackling of the fire and the crisp, cold air and Ethan’s lips on his all cemented together into one picture-perfect instant.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](https://collective-optical-hijack.tumblr.com/)


End file.
